Page 17 of Stolen Ones

‘Boss, for what it’s worth, this guy has done so much for good causes. He supports all kinds of charities, small ones that can’t get much funding as well as major projects in the local area. He sponsors wildlife programmes, donkey sanctuaries, nature reserves, and apparently Hawne Park would have closed decades ago if he hadn’t stepped in and saved it.’

Kim knew Hawne Park well. It was located just one mile out of Halesowen town centre.

‘Doesn’t mean he’s not a killer, Stace,’ she said.

They all knew that murderers came in all shapes and sizes and from every point on the socio-economic spectrum.

Yes, he was good-looking. Yes, he was rich, and yes, he was a generous benefactor, but none of the above precluded him from being a murderer. It just offered him more opportunity.

‘We should go and see them,’ Bryant said thoughtfully.

‘Who?’

‘Melody’s family.’

‘Bryant, the case is twenty-five years old. I’d love to know what happened to Melody Jones but I’m more concerned about Grace Lennard, and I’m not sure how Melody’s family can help.’

‘There’s a reason Harte mentioned Melody specifically.’

‘And if he told us to dress up in costume and dance the funky chicken, would we do that too?’

Stacey raised an eyebrow. ‘Boss, what’s the funk—’

‘Doesn’t matter. He’s not going to pull our strings, Bryant.’

‘We should still go,’ he pushed.

‘Why?’

‘There was talk. Nothing concrete but locker-room stuff. I had no involvement but apparently there was something about the family that was a bit…off.’

It was a term not contained in the police manual, but every officer knew what it meant. She interviewed people herself every day who either showed too much emotion or not enough. Some people asked relevant questions too soon and some not at all. Knowing if the reactions were genuine was not something that could be taught. There was no checklist and no blueprint for people’s emotional responses, and she’d never felt enough authority on the matter to judge.

If an officer felt that something was ‘off’ there was normally a pretty good reason for it.

She wondered if Melody’s family would have anything new to offer after twenty-five years, but it didn’t hurt to have a quick word.

Nine

‘I thought the family lived on Hollytree,’ Kim said as Bryant headed towards the Joneses’ current address in Hayley Green. The area sat on the West Midlands side of the border with West Mercia Police Force. Houses ranged from half a million down to a hundred thousand in some areas, and around two hundred thousand for the terraced property on Chiltern Road where they were heading.

‘They did when Melody disappeared, but they appear to have traded up a bit in the years since.’

‘Come on then – what was the talk in the locker room?’

‘Like I said, nothing concrete, but from what I remember, Melody was the youngest of six or seven kids, all pretty close in age with barely a year between some of them. By the time Melody disappeared, her dad was already dead, and the eldest boy appeared to have taken on the role.’

‘Not unusual in that kind of situation,’ Kim replied as they moved slowly along Chiltern Road. Older siblings often took a hand in rearing the youngsters in big families.

He stopped at a house with a small driveway and a garage that sat at the front of the house. To the right was a front door and a single window. It looked like a decent area, where folks mowed their lawns and tried to obscure the different wheelie bins forced to sit out front. It was a house that most of the folks on Hollytree would have sold a relative to own.

A Renault Clio was inside the open garage and an Escort van was parked on the drive.

‘Not sure they’re gonna appreciate seeing us after all this time,’ Kim said, getting out of the car.

‘Yeah, but just imagine if we can give them some closure after all these years,’ Bryant answered as they knocked on the door.

By closure Kim knew he meant body.